Questions:
How and why did you make the switch to become a full time arbitrator?
To your point, I am not a full time arbitrator as I have other professional interests but I did make a switch from being a full time salaried employee to become an independent arbitrator – let me explain. I was the Executive Director of the Spore Chamber of Maritime Arbitration (“SCMA”) from 2010-2016 which provided me with a very broad foundation to better understand arbitration’s role in ADR and to connect with a really broad base of arbitration stakeholders. My mentor, the late Goh Joon Seng, saw something in me that I could not see in myself and suggested that the time was ripe to leave and establish my own practice as an ADR consultant, which included being a practising arbitrator. With his encouragement and support, I took the plunge to leave SCMA, founded LWP.Sg Consultants in 2016 and his words have proved prophetic. The timing could not have been more perfect for me and COVID-19 was a great help.
What is your favourite dish?
Outram char kway teow plus additional cockles located at Hong Lim food centre. I get invited to lots of fancy dinners featuring excellent cuisines but this dish hits me right in the gut where all of my meal response cells are located.
What is a typical year for you - how do you divide your time between the different hats you wear and the different countries in which you practise?
As the Regional Advisor to the Thomas Miller Group, I allocate about 5 to 7 days in a month to further their interests through a broad spectrum of activities, particularly the UK P&I Club.
In addition, there are various enquiries for arbitrator, mediator or adjudicator appointments to attend to – for conflict checks if nothing else. For those which end up in appointments, I would need to allocate time to finalise appointments, fee agreements, engage with parties to give directions to kick start the process and work with parties to move towards a hearing and start reading the bundles as and when they are submitted. Arbitrations are particularly time consuming as and when they approach the actual hearing milestone with issuance of directions for hearing arrangements after consultation with parties and lots of reading of submissions, skeletals and authorities in order to be as fully prepared as possible at the Hearings themselves. The award writing process is also very time consuming. Mediation tend to be less intensive due to the shorter nature of the hearings (usually not more than 2 days plus not having to spend time writing awards) and the submissions for reading is considerably less. Adjudication is somewhere in between.
I also conduct courses on shipbroking and chartering for members of the Spore Shipping Association (SSA). The duration of each course is 2.5 days of lectures which I deliver personally and SSA typically organises anything from 2 to 4 courses a year. I have been conducting these lectures for over 30 years and have taught thousands of members of the shipping / commodity trading community.
In support of ADR development, I am also a Coach of Coaches as well as an Assessor at SMC and am engaged every quarter for their training courses. This includes the rather massive and intensive exercise at every year’s end (currently in progress) organised by them for law students taking their Part B Mediation Advocacy course. As interest in mediation continues to rise, this is mirrored in the number of students registered and this year’s batch number in excess of a two hundred. I would also be invited to judge various competitions in mediation each year and am very honoured to be invited to judge the semi finals / finals of SMU Mediation Advocacy Competition 2022.
So in a nutshell, there is no fixed pattern of time allocation for me and a typical year would involve flexibility to juggle all of the above plus an annual trip to the UK (except for the past 2.5 years due to Covid) to catch up with my contacts there. Lastly, I also spend time putting on my hat as grandfather and chasing after my 2 very active grandchildren as they grow up so as not to lose out (Kiasu FOMO at work!!) on the joys of grand fatherhood. The one observation I can share with everyone reading is that each passing year becomes more busy than the one before. This is a good profession to be in where things have an excellent chance of getting better with age, both in terms of number / type / quality of appointments and with them, attendant fees!!!
What is the most memorable arbitration or arbitration-related matter that you were involved in, and why?
To be party appointed as an arbitrator to a 3-person (3-men in my case) Tribunal with my opposite being a newly appointed QC (as he was then) who is now KC and the chair being a very established (read as quite OLD, ha ha) QC / KC with another established QC / KC (not as old as the Chair) arguing for one side together with the instructing local firm and an international law firm arguing for the other side. It was memorable for the very complicated issues of law and the commodity industry subject matters involved which required the application of the Tribunal’s combined knowledge and experience to deal with many of the issues expeditiously and (I hope) without undue error in getting the fact finding and application of the law done and dusted.
As an arbitrator, what in your view are the key qualities or traits an arbitration counsel should possess when representing a party?
Without ranking them in any particular order, I would mention Integrity / Deep knowledge of both domestic and international arbitration law and practice / Tackling and strategising enforcement issues with the client / Willingness to consider blending of other types of ADR such as mediation / neutral evaluation into the mix as a total solution and to be strong enough to advise their clients without worrying that they may be viewed as “weak” / Strong advocacy skills.
What advice do you have for a young fellow practitioner interested in developing a career as an arbitrator?
Don’t ever believe that the runway for your career as an arbitrator is cleared for take off simply because you have passed your Fellowship exams. It is merely the starting point, as much of what has been learned and examined are foundational in nature. There is still so much more to learn in terms of practice like how to actually run an arbitration from start to finish practically and getting yourself known and accepted in the industry as someone who can be trusted to be an arbitrator. I would therefore advise that you need to surround yourself with people who wish to see you succeed as a new arbitrator through their actual words and deeds instead of just paying you lip service so that can help facilitate you to be immersed constantly into the soup of the arbitration community. If someone who is really experienced, successful and recognised as an arbitrator takes an interest in your development and is prepared to be your mentor, drop everything else and capitalise on the offer to the maximum – such persons appearing in your life are like unicorns. I speak from experience so I should know – it happened to me.
You're fluent in English, ****, **** and ****. Rank them in order of difficulty.
I am fluent in English, Chinese and Malay – To be totally honest, only true for English actually – my Chinese is bad and Malay is really bad. If I am held hostage and have to negotiate in Chinese or Malay to secure my personal release, it’s time to start looking for slots to print my obituary.
Would you rather win an Olympic medal, an Academy Award or the Nobel Peace prize?
Nobel Peace prize – no reasons given because I was not asked – just like how some decisions to resolve disputes are not accompanied by reasons – don’t ask, don’t give reasons for your decisions – sound advice from my mentor.
Who would play you in a movie of your life?
My mentor, Goh Joon Seng.
How would you describe yourself in three words?
Calm, collected and compassionate.
How did you first get involved in arbitration work?
The first Executive Director of the SCMA after it was re-organised was working on a part time basis and was leaving for a full time job. Being a good friend of mine, he called me to apply, which I did - even though I had no legal training. Instead, what I had in my bag was an extensive network of close contacts in the maritime industry and much to my surprise, was accepted. My real involvement in arbitration work actually started on the morning of my first day of work - when I had to force down the vomit of manic fear and panic that I might have dug too deep a hole for myself in taking up the new challenge. Calming myself down suitably after swallowing the vile taste of my vomit, I gamely turned up for my first day of work and have kept going on ever since into my 12th year now. I’m not suggesting that swallowing your vomit is a good way to get started in arbitration but fighting down your inner fears so that they don’t get the better of you is never a bad thing.
In the course of your work, do you notice a trend in clients preferring arbitration over litigation as a form of dispute resolution?
No, I think arbitration and litigation are chosen by savvy clients for their own unique reasons to strategise which form of dispute resolution works best for their particular business contracts should disputes arise - such as whether they are cross border in nature or to take into account pre-existing relationships between parties. Parties who don’t know better will continue to rely on using past contracts and counsel for guidance. For resolving tortious disputes such as claims arising from ship collisions, instead of using litigation which is the default method, there is now an option to arbitrate using a carve out called SCMA EXPEDITED ARBITRAL DETERMINATION OF COLLISION CLAIMS (“SEADOCC TERMS”) - a procedure which I created with assistance and support from several lawyers very experienced in collision disputes back when I was ED of SCMA. Finally, arbitrators are at the receiving end of the dispute resolution chain, i.e. they only get to see cases when disputes actually arise. The right parties to ask this question are the lawyers as they are at the front end of the food chain, advising their clients on choosing litigation or arbitration to be negotiated into their contracts for dispute resolution and are thus able to get a better sense of the pulse.
What are the challenges you think arbitration practitioners will face in the upcoming years?
The field is getting more and more crowded. Disputes are becoming more and more complicated because of businesses are becoming increasingly complex which in turn demand more extensive and intensive subject matter knowledge. The risk of Tribunals getting it wrong in terms of fact finding in such disputes has increased. Added to that, the rise in international trades between more and more new partners which can make cross border disputes much more difficult to manage in terms of conflicting cultural value systems and expectations.
With the establishment of the Singapore International Mediation Centre and the introduction of the SIAC-SIMC Arb-Med-Arb Protocol, do you see mediation as now having a bigger role to play in assisting parties to resolve their disputes?
Yes but with respect, I would venture to say that SMC was the lead organisation that really kick started this process together with the courts in the first place.
Who is the person(s) who has had the greatest impact and/or influence on your career?
The late former Justice Goh Joon Seng
If you weren’t in your current profession, what profession would you be in?
I would be a senior citizen dispensing advice in the shipping world, where OLD is not necessarily GOLD unlike the world of ADR. I would certainly not be engaged in day to day shipping work as the pace is too fast moving and more suited for the younger generation like my son. Although not asked and slightly off your point - I would have liked to be an actor where OLD still has the potential to be GOLD.
What’s your guilty pleasure?
Spending time playing with my grandchildren and influencing them positively in their growing up process.
What is one talent that not many people know you have?
That I once ran a 100 km ultra marathon non-stop in my 50’s and completed it in 16 hrs and still had enough energy to attend a wedding shortly after that before returning home to get some much needed sleep….
Fill in the blank: “Arbitration is to dispute resolution as salt is to _________."
"the sea"
71% of the world is covered by the sea water and if you tried to separate them, you will have the world’s entire population of fish and other sea creatures beating a path to your door disputing your decision and demanding that you set things right again.